Identifying knowledge and skills within the workplace

What skills and knowledge are required in my workplace?

When reading through the reader this is another section that stood out to me that I wanted to think about before blogging about any potential line of inquiry questions. My professional practice is very specific and I found it initially quite difficult to pinpoint the skills and knowledge required for it. However, after a bit of thought I soon realised that my job in itself is a skill! 

I have attached below two spider diagrams I have created. One is identifying the skills and knowledge require within the workplace. The other is my personal competences and capabilities.

My professional inquiry ...

A professional inquiry is a unique method of learning that centralises the individual in the process of learning making everyone's experience different. Before I begin a new task I always like to take a look at other students blogs to see whether I am working on the right lines and it is clear from the outset of module 2 how personal each students work will be. After asking myself some questions about my practice in my previous post and reading through the Module 2 reader I have realised some key points I should keep in mind when developing my professional inquiry. I should consider a topic that:

- extends and clarifies my professional knowledge
- continues my learning in the future
- utilises the knowledge I have gained from module 1
- is based on my professional arts practice
- engages with scenarios relevant to my workplace

'The ultimate goal of the inquiry will be to explore a topic that will benefit your work and the work of colleagues and fellow professionals, including any work organisations with whom you are affiliated.' 

This quote from the reader really stood out to me and helped me narrow down my thoughts in regards to my line of professional inquiry. I now know that I should also choose a topic which will benefit my work and the work of my colleges. I have now managed to organise my thoughts and narrow down ideas I can begin to think about some potential inquiry questions. 

Professional inquiry related concepts:

Professional inquiry is a way to learn about what you are doing while you are doing it. 

Inquiry based learning (sometimes spelled enquiry-based learning) expects the adult learner to engage with relevant problems and scenarios, draw on existing knowledge, seek out new evidence, and analyse and present that evidence in appropriate ways (Kahn and O’Rourke, 2004). 

Work based learning related concepts: 

I am familiar with the work based learning style and it's benefits and concepts. I know that WBL strategies work well for problem solving and encourages education and work to benefit each other and coexist in a working environment.

“It promotes awareness of the workplace as a learning environment and uses this to extend the learner’s capability and individual effectiveness” (Durrant et al. 2009, p. 1).  

The WBL framework can also accommodate workforce development strategies where more than one learner in the workplace is involved in the educational experience. Even with small units at work, the professional inquiry is something that can affect a number of employees, so this is an aspect of the inquiry that needs to be considered. 

I found the quote above from the reader interesting because myself and my colleague from my ballet company Grace are both BAPP students so it will be interesting to see what different educational experiences we can draw from in the workplace.

Back to basics

When I received my feedback from my module 1 work I realised that I need to be more specific and focused when writing and keep referring back to my practice and making it clear what my practice is and what it entails. I've found that writing questions and answers is a good way to do this and helps me to organise my thoughts, so I am going to approach the next task by going back to basics and stripping things down to facts.

What is my practice?

Ballet dancer in professional ballet touring company - Vienna Festival Ballet

What do I enjoy about my practice? 

Fulfilling my ambitions. Performing everyday. Everyday is different and exciting. Being with friends and likeminded people everyday.

What do I find difficult about my practice?

Unsociable hours - working weekends and evening in other friends and family's time off. Little rest time and doing physical activity 6 days a week is sometimes tiring. Dealing with injuries. Time management. Staying healthy when on tour.

What a typical day entails:

Travelling on the tour bus. Arriving at theatre. Prepping for the show (applying make-up, styling hair, getting costumes ready). Doing ballet class as warm up. The show. Travelling back to London or going to hotel.

How can I improve my practice?

Writing corrections from shows. Working on technique in class. Going to the theatre to watch other dance works and performances to stay motivated and in the loop. Networking with other dancers/choreographers/teachers who may help me in the future.


After asking myself these questions and looking into what my practice involves I have realised it would be good for me to further my inquiry into something to do with life on tour. Now to start thinking of some questions for typical lines of inquiry ...

Group Skype Session

I found the group Skype session a great way to get back into the course after the long summer break and start reconnecting with other students. It was also nice to hear from some new people I hadn't spoken to before who were also going into module 2 and their thoughts about the upcoming semester. 

Adesola raised some interesting points about what to expect from module 2 and I was reassured when she mentioned that we didn't have to know what topic we were going to focus on in module 3 yet and the next module is all about our thought process. 

I feel a lot more confident in starting module 2 than I did module 1 and I feel as though I have learnt a lot and can use all of the learning methods I've previously used. I've realised that in module 1 I really stuck to doing the tasks and methodically worked through them, whereas now I am looking at them as more of a rough guideline. 

I finished the Skype feeling a lot more motivated and positive about the next module and after reading through the reader and handbook I now feel ready for the hard work to recommence! 

Back to blogging ....

After a very long (and well deserved) break I'm starting to get back to blogging and thinking about the BAPP course and module 2. 

I discovered this picture on the internet and found it really amusing because after I have a break from dancing I always feel really inflexible and stiff (like the little girls in the photo) and is how I can best describe how I feel about coming back to blogging! I'm hoping that the ease for blogging comes back more quickly and easily than my flexibility does ... 

This summer I have had my first real taste of what it's like to be a freelance dancer living independently in London and I have found it does not come without it's challenges. It took me from when I finished my contract in June to the end of July to sort out what kind of work is flexible enough to enable me to continue going to classes and auditions over the summer period and pays well enough for me to afford my rent. I have now (finally) got into the swing of things and it is almost time for me to go back to my company so I am trying to cram as many classes and workouts into my working week as possible before our casting day in September ... help!!

Although I have had a complete switch off this summer I have continued to apply different things I have learnt over module 1 to my professional practice and have found it very useful. I have also done some research into what I might like to further explore in the next module and am looking into the benefits of dance and movement psychology!

Hope everyone has had a good summer break :)

Task 3C Sources of information

My most current sources of information:

The Internet:

Without a doubt this is my primary source of information. When I began thinking about how much I rely on the Internet to inform me about auditions, events and everything really I began wondering what would I do without it? Imagine if one day there was no more Internet? If there was no internet would that mean I would have to develop other networks and gather information from different places? Would I still be well connected within the industry without it? Am I too reliant on the Internet? This source of information for networking supports the connectivism theory and helps the sharing of information suggesting networking if a system where we can all interact. 

Other dancers/friends:

Knowing people in the industry is vital and essential to 'making it' in the performing arts world. Not only will this help you advance with auditions and being in the right place at the right time but without knowing people in the industry I think it can feel like a very lonely place. At auditions everyone seems to know each other so it can feel very solitary if you are completely alone and this can lower your confidence. Also having people in the industry to talk to and people who can understand and sympathise with professional issues you may be having is very important. Knowing people who can support you and give you advice on how to progress in the profession is very useful and can benefit you massively. Lots of the professional decisions I have made had been influenced and advised by others in the industry, whether that be ex-teacher or friends as these are people in the best position to help me and likewise I will advise my friends and other professional to help them. This way of networking and co-operation supports the social connectism theory where relationships are formed and we extract meaning from them. 

Workshops:

You cannot leave a workshop with making new connections within the industry. There's always lots of other participants and of course the work shop leaders and assistants. They are a great way to broaden your network and meet like minded people. Also they can be a great way to 'get your foot in the door' with a company. Often before a big Matthew Bourne audition the company holds a workshop where they will be scouting for talent already so it is a good way to be seen and make yourself memorable before the audition. Also it is an opportunity to talk to the people involved in the company and have your questions and queries answered. 

Other publications, magazines etc:

There are many dance and performance related publications which are a great way to be involved in the industry. Before I moved to ballet school I was subscribed to the Dancing Times and RAD Gazette and because I didn't know that many people in the dance world this helped me feel connected and informed of current events in the industry! I feel like now I don't use these types of publications as much as I could because I rely on the internet so this is an area of networking I will try to broaden. 

For me personally I think I need to use a wider variety of sources to improve my current practice. I will try to use other publications and actively search for workshops and other related events I can attend and participate in. I think in our generation people mainly rely on the internet for a main source of information so perhaps we should try to find alternative ways to broaden our networks.

Task 3b Concepts of Networking

An example of networking. I have just received an email from a company asking me to work as an assistant choreographer for a few performances and workshops they have coming up in the summer and this made me think about how I got this job through networking. I did a job for this company about 6 months ago and really liked the company so I spoke to them after the project ended and said how I would be really interested if they had any future work and I emailed them after the event just to remind them who I was and pass on my contact detail and randomly 6 months down the line I have got a job out of it. Which just shows that it is important to out yourself out there and make connections with people! 

Concepts of networking:

CO-OPERATION:

I understand that in order to network efficiently it is important to cop-operate with people. Whether they be a colleuege or a boss or even someone that you cross paths with at an audition it is important to be easy to get on with and pleasant to talk to. The first impression you create of yourself is very important, especially in my industry as often people or potential employers will judge you immediately when you walk through the door at an audition! In the Robert Axelrod has a theory that cooperation is important until you can maximum benefit and then 'defecting'. I don't completely agree with this in terms of networking in my industry and after reading Lois-May's blog I can see that she feels the same way. I believe if someone has helped you reach a certain goal in your career then it is important to be greateful and try to help them back, not 'defect away'. Another example I thought of is after a teacher has helped you and passed on a lot of knowledge I think it is important to remain in contact with them rather than defecting away! 

AFFILIATION:

Generally people will affiliate with people on a personal and professional level and much social research has been conducted to discover why this it. There has been an interesting discussion on Lois-May's blog about how you might network different,y and less informally with friends rather than with people you know on a more professional basis. In an extract I have read from .... It states about the benefits of affiliating and networking with people on the same level as us aswell as higher up in the networking hierarchy. For example for me I should networking with other dancers and performers as well as choreographer and producers! 

As it says in the Reader it is important to give time to think about these concepts and see if it provokes any thoughts or ideas in regards to my own professional network. How can I use these ideas to broaden my own professional network and advance in my career.